Could mighty LSU wind up in a non-BCS bowl? Er … maybe
Don't worry, Leslie: Your darn strong team won't fall as far as the Chick-fil-A Bowl. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Raging consensus holds that LSU will play for the national title no matter what it does Saturday and that the Tigers’ opponent Jan. 9 will again be Alabama. But there’s a slight — slight, let me emphasize — possibility the team that has been No. 1 in every week of the BCS rankings might land in a non-BCS bowl. (And here let me thank esteemed colleague Kevin Whaley for bringing this to my attention.)
Say LSU loses to Georgia by three touchdowns. Say No. 3 Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma by three touchdowns. (By way of comparison, Georgia is No. 14 in the BCS standings to OU’s No. 10.) Say there’s a major Oklahoma State groundswell in the human polls. Say LSU slides to No. 3 in the final rankings behind Oklahoma State and Alabama, the latter of which cannot lose this weekend because it isn’t playing.
Know where LSU, the team that has been the nation’s best from September through November, would be headed? To Orlando for the non-BCS Capital One Bowl. Or to Dallas for the non-BCS Cotton Bowl.
I say again: I don’t think that will happen. Given the Tigers’ strength of schedule — three victories against opponents in the BCS top 10 — and glowing SEC profile, it’s hard to imagine them suffering a Boise State-like fate. (One loss and you’re relegated to the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl.) But if Georgia beats LSU, it goes to the BCS-affiliated Sugar Bowl as SEC champ. If Alabama stays No. 2 or ascends to No. 1, it’s in the BCS title game. And the only way a conference can send a third team to a BCS game is if two of them are playing for the national title and neither is the conference champion.
I say yet again: I don’t think that will happen. Should LSU lose, the debate would become: Who are the two best one-loss teams? At this moment, LSU would figure to have the most impressive body of one-loss work, but the voting won’t be done at this moment. Balloting — and computer-tabulating — will occur late Saturday night, and voters tend to rely most on what they saw last. And what if they just saw the Tigers lose 35-14 to a team that, according to the BCS rankings, is the SEC’s fifth-best?
Never forget that this is the BCS, where weird happens. In 2003 unbeaten and top-ranked Oklahoma lost by 28 points to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship, and somehow the Sooners stayed No. 1 in the BCS rankings. In 2007 once-beaten and top-ranked Missouri lost by 21 points to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship and didn’t even wind up in a BCS game. (But Kansas, which Missouri had beaten two weeks earlier and which finished two spots behind the Tigers in the BCS rankings, did. Georgia wasn’t the only team that got short shrift in ‘07.)
For the fourth or fifth time: When the standings are announced Sunday night, LSU and Alabama figure to be Nos. 1 and 2 (or 2 and 1) even if Georgia topples the Tigers. And that would look funny, too. A national championship game would pair a team that didn’t win its conference against one that didn’t win its division? But that’s the BCS: It’s always going to look funny. Smell funny, too.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
595 comments Add your comment
Dawglasville
November 30th, 2011
10:06 am
MelvinH – Georgia has three, first team, All SEC players: Orson Charles, Cordy Glen, and Aaron Murray. LSU is deeper than us and better than us at most positions. To say they are better than us at every position isn’t true. No one in their right mind would say that Jefferson is better than Murray.
LOL!
November 30th, 2011
10:06 am
@ D man
Get over it! Yall lost! If OK st wins, they will play for the NC, unless we beat LSU. SIt back and watch!
GREG
November 30th, 2011
10:06 am
Wow it seems like any team thats not winning like lsu is right now always gripes and blames it on the refs (phantom calls) dude georgia does not stand a snowballs chance in hell and as for bama you guys dont deserve a nat’l title shot you lost at home ( does anyone remember when the game was a few days away how everyone was saying that this depended on who goes to bcs title game) bama goin to bcs title game would be like somone who didnt play in the nfl playoffs going to the superbowl wow wow wow if i was a 1 loss team that played in a confrence title game and won and bama went to bcs title game i would be raising 10 kinds of hell
Gbal
November 30th, 2011
10:07 am
07 L. Miles “shouldnt play in NC w/out winning confrence”
11 Saban – ” its about having the best two teams”
07 LMiles “I’d be honored to play Bama again in a NC game”
Even coaches can agree…or changes critera . … PLAYOFF
murfdawg
November 30th, 2011
10:08 am
How do you get invited to a beauty contest? There are no steadfast rules. The BCS and ESPN are making it up as fast as they can. Bama had a chance and lost. Invite the pretty little girl from Oklahoma. (maybe they can kick a field goal)
Bammer
November 30th, 2011
10:08 am
The good thing is no one cares what any of you Mutt fans think. Bama is going to the BCS and there is NOTHING you can do about it! No one cares about UGA or even respects you…that’s why you got left out in 2007. And for Kim Ho…for every Utah there is a Central Florida. Remember crapping the bed last year in the bowl game? I sure do.
Morrison
November 30th, 2011
10:09 am
We betta off than W Vir, we might put up 700 yardz stead of 550 yardz on dez clowns…
Scott
November 30th, 2011
10:09 am
Mark, correct me if i’m wrong, but you senario above doesn’t hold water… let me explain, you said if, i,f and if well if LSU slid back to being ranked 3 without going over your whole story again. To make a long story short unless they changed it, LSU still would go to a BCS game cause they’d be ranked in the top 4. waiting for your comment. (I didn’t read everones post so this might have already been answered and addressed)
GREG
November 30th, 2011
10:10 am
if lsu does not deserve a title shot with a loss to dawgs then bama sure the hell dont deserve a title shot you college fans must smoke a lot of dope.
Bammer
November 30th, 2011
10:10 am
LOL at the Mutt fans already claiming the refs are against them…before the game even has started! Paranoia! Paranoia! I guess that’s what happens when you go two or three generations between titles.
WDE
November 30th, 2011
10:11 am
@Chuck do you really think LSU won’t just wipe the floor with Bama in a rematch? Really?? They will pound you worst than you think you’d pound us….Bama played the best game they are capable of vs LSU and got beat, deep down they know this to be true.
Mark Bradley
November 30th, 2011
10:11 am
The only way three teams from a conference can play in BCS bowls is if two of them are playing for the national title and neither is conference champ, Scott. That’s the rule. It can be found on the BCS website.
Ron Swanson
November 30th, 2011
10:11 am
Bammer is a Tech troll. Nobody else uses “mutt” and why would any legitimate AL fan have invested so much time in a UGA blog. Nice try nerd.
DawgDad
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
Nothing matters until they play the game, because LSU could win and only the final poll matters. BUT — if UGA prevails, any system that puts a non-conference champion in a “National Championship” game over the conference champion has ZERO credibility.
Nobody is saying this, because nobody really believes UGA will win, but if they DO win they have every bit as much claim to the #1 ranking as any other team in the nation, and the margin of victory over LSU really shouldn’t matter. I would see little choice for the BCS voters other than picking which two conference champions should square off. If the computers see it otherwise the programming is flawed and lacks credibility.
My views obviously may not prevail, but this is a principled position and my mind cannot be changed.
GulfShoresDawg
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
t-Roll Tide…sit at home and cap it…go cry in your toilet paper roll…
bruce mac
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
The only reason I say they are more comfortable in the GA Dome is because this group of players has played there this year. It is not a big factor but just a little help I hope. LSU is a great team with great coaches and certainly can overcome this little edge but we will take any edge we can get and what LSU or UGA has done in years past is not relavent to Saturday. IMO
Fred-D
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
If Georgia beats LSU and LSU and Alabama play in the BCS title game (if this happens I don’t think I can call it a national championship game), can the coaches and players honestly look at themselves and proclaim that they are the national champions, when they aren’t even conference champions. If they have even the slightest bit of integrity they can’t.
The fans will not have this dilemma at all.
D man
November 30th, 2011
10:12 am
LOL! – who is “y’all”? I’m a Georgia fan. I’m just glad we are playing LSU and not Alabama because I think they are a better team and so does Vegas. the point spread playing Alabama would have been 4 points bigger and they are saying that Alabama will be favored in the BCS championship against anyone.
I believe Alabama is better than LSU and should have won that earlier game that they gave away. Go Dawgs!!!
MelvinH
November 30th, 2011
10:13 am
“Melvin, Everyone gives up rushing yards to Tech, they attempt like 4 passes a game. The 243 rushing yards probably account for 99% of its total offense in that game so that is really not impressive.”
53 rushing attempts, 17 passes (for 117) yards. LSU ran the ball 46 times in their last game for 286 yards.
This game is going to go like most other LSU games. UGA will be competetive ofr 2.5 quarters. By mid-3rd quarter the superiority LSU has along the OL and DL will take over and the rout will be on.
LOL!
November 30th, 2011
10:13 am
You all might as well throw all the previous games out the window. I know what both teams are capable of. At this point it is a game of match-ups and the games are won and lost on the LOS. Our D-line matches up well against LSU. I say they give up 16 points max. Then again, our D is gonna be the best LSU has seen except maybe, and I say maybe Bama. LSU only scored 9 on Bama.
Our O-line match up is what concerns me. They are gonna have to play their A$$ off. Crowell is gonna have to remove his tampon and be a man. Give Murray a little bit of time and a chance to throw on 1st down and 2nd and short.
Whoever wins the turnover battle is going to win the game by at least 20-16. Add a score for each additional turnover.
DawgDad
November 30th, 2011
10:14 am
“The only way three teams from a conference can play in BCS bowls is if two of them are playing for the national title and neither is conference champ, Scott. That’s the rule. It can be found on the BCS website.”
And by virtue of that rule even existing, the system lacks credibility.
LSU Alumni
November 30th, 2011
10:14 am
Oh ye of litte faith . . .
GREG
November 30th, 2011
10:14 am
fred-d you are the smartest person on here thank you someone that agrees with me if bama goes to the bcs game i for one will no longer watch or support college ball its just plain dumb the way their system works is made where people who sometimes dont deserve it get it
LOL!
November 30th, 2011
10:14 am
Fred, you are right on it!! You da man!
Mark Bradley
November 30th, 2011
10:15 am
As for being No. 4, Scott … there’s a rule for that as well.
“If any of the 10 slots remain open after application of provisions 1 through 5, and if no team qualifies under paragraph No. 5 and an at-large team from a conference with an annual automatic berth for its champion is ranked No. 4 in the final BCS Standings, that team will become an automatic qualifier provided that no at-large team from the same conference qualifies for the national championship game.”
secbama
November 30th, 2011
10:16 am
If UGA wins then the SEC gets $16 more million with Sugar Bowl payout. SEC wants LSU to win so they can BCS. Look for Georgia to have lead in last two minutes and a phantom pass inteference or holding call will do Georgia in. 24-20 Tigers.
bruce mac
November 30th, 2011
10:17 am
Bammer, you are right. That is rediculous. No ref is out there looking to put LSU in MNC game. The paranoi comes from listening the Munson for all thoses years, We won the Uncontested National Championship in 1980 and that is not several generations ago in Georgia. I can see that in Alabama you might have kids at age 10 or 11 but over here that is not even one generation. Ha Ha
MelvinH
November 30th, 2011
10:17 am
“MelvinH – Georgia has three, first team, All SEC players: Orson Charles, Cordy Glen, and Aaron Murray. LSU is deeper than us and better than us at most positions. To say they are better than us at every position isn’t true. No one in their right mind would say that Jefferson is better than Murray.”
WHo said that? I said 11 on 11, LSU is superior at every position. At waht point in the game do you think Murray and Jefferson will line up against each other?
LSU played the SEC’s #1 offense and #1 rated QB last Saturday. How did he do?
Ron Swanson
November 30th, 2011
10:19 am
Melvin is a stats maniac! And here I thought everyone from Louisiana was like the Waterboy!
Mark Bradley
November 30th, 2011
10:19 am
The overriding BCS bylaw in this case:
“No more than two teams from a conference may be selected, regardless of whether they are automatic qualifiers or at-large selections, unless two non-champions from the same conference are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the final BCS Standings.”
GulfShoresDawg
November 30th, 2011
10:21 am
@Bammer crap roll tide turd … go poisen an Oak Tree…you are irrelevant and do not control your destiny…sit at home and watch the two best teams in the SEC play…LSU will wipe the floor with you again if you play…hee, heee! you embarrassed the SEC enough with strippergate and your decade of .500 ball….you are irrelevant, remember that!
LOL!
November 30th, 2011
10:21 am
If Okl. St. wins Sat. they should play of the NC over Alabama. Period. I would play any 1 loss team before I ‘d play Bama. They had their shot in their own back yard and came up short. Outback Bowl for Bama. Maybe Cotton Bowl.
Baddabing
November 30th, 2011
10:22 am
Dawglasville – OK State lost to unranked Iowa State (8th out of the 10 team conference). AL lost in overtime by a field goal to the number one team in the land. Alabama was picked second by 57 of 60 coaches voting in the polls including the OK State coach. Case closed.
BIGDAWG38
November 30th, 2011
10:22 am
Alright, alright, alright!!! So, Georgia is the underdog! Georgia has no chance in hell of winning!! Georgia hasn’t played anyone!!! The SEC East is weak!!!! Keep em’ coming!!!!! We love the role!
WE ARE GEORGIA!!! GO DAWGS!!!
Bammer
November 30th, 2011
10:23 am
Everyone that matters thinks Bama should be in the BCS game…coaches, media and the computers ALL think that way. But WAIT!!! Georgia fans don’t think it’s right! And to add insult to injury the Georgia fans are threatening not to watch college football anymore if it happens! The BCS must be stopped at once!!!
Saban
November 30th, 2011
10:23 am
We all know how this ends.
LSU beats the Dawgs by 50 and then I beat LSU and win another national championship.
Georgia plays Boise State again in the Booger Eaters Classic Bowl in Macon and loses by 50 again.
Baddabing
November 30th, 2011
10:24 am
LOL! – Ditto my last comment to Dawglasville.
CP
November 30th, 2011
10:25 am
The posters unabashed hatred of the University of Alabama football program’s success is out in full force.
Gary
November 30th, 2011
10:26 am
DawgDad and others. So if 2 wildcard teams meet in the Super Bowl, does that mean there is no credibility in the playoff system? I’ve never heard any complaints about how the NFL chooses a champion. If the 2 best teams have 1 loss each, regardless of when during the season they occured, it only means on that day they were not the best team on the field. How does a 2-loss Georgia team deserve to play for the NC over those 1 loss teams. I am a die hard Georgia fan but they don’t deserve to play for the NC this year even if they beat the #1 team this Saturday. If LSU and Bama are the two highest ranked teams after all the games have been played, then they should play for the NC. Plain and simple. I may not like want to watch a rematch, but those 2 teams earned it. Georgia didnt. That being said, I’m pretty sick of LSU being so arrogant as to just assume they will beat the h…. out of Georgia. The Dawgs have shown they can play with anybody, including LSU and I look forward to a very competetive and exciting game. Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!
Dawglasville
November 30th, 2011
10:26 am
Melvin H – Oh, I see. So what defensive postition are you comparing with Murray?
Bammer
November 30th, 2011
10:26 am
GulfShoresDawg-
If 13 national titles and 22 SEC titles are irrelevant what does that make you Mutts? Hee hee!
munsondawg
November 30th, 2011
10:26 am
Bama & Lsu fans should enjoy these moments they have. They dont last forever.
LOL!
November 30th, 2011
10:27 am
Remember 03 when LSU was #3 and UGA #13 and they played in the SEC Championship game. Nobody gave us a chance in hell. I say history will repeat itself. Go Dawgs! We got nothing to lose! Win and LSwho and Bammer will be playing a consulation game. I’d rather be a legit SEC champ than a runner-up NC champ!
THE DUDE
November 30th, 2011
10:27 am
ALL I GOT TO SAY IS 10 OF 11 AND 31 – 17. THATS ALL YALL.
Mark Bradley
November 30th, 2011
10:27 am
You mean 2005, LOL. LSU beat Georgia in 2003.
DawgDad
November 30th, 2011
10:28 am
Think about applying the BCS system to other sports. Take baseball. 2006 and 2011 Cardinals would have been computer-ranked out of the World Series.
DP
November 30th, 2011
10:28 am
Mark Bradley, your columns have evolved into pure pot stirring idiocy. Did you ever think about doing a little actual reporting and writing something original instead of scouring the internet for something ridiculous to regurgitate?
Gbal
November 30th, 2011
10:29 am
I want to see the two best teams in the NC game period. The problem is the BCS and ESPN cant really determine the two best. Gotta go playoff.
But given the system we have this year, if LSU beats UGA, I cant argue a Bama LSU rematch. Who knows who the best really are but this would be as good a guess as any.
IF UGA should beat LSU, I just can not see LSU/Bama being selected for the NC game. This would really expose the system again. Two teams that did not win their confrence playing for the NC. LSU would have lost to a #14… The #3 bama ranking would appear to be inflated due to LSU loosing to a #14. I would really question the LSU Bama selection for the NC if this should happen.
And as a DAWG fan, I hope it does!
And as a college football fan in general, I hope this happes as well and moves us a step closer to a playoff.
williebkind
November 30th, 2011
10:30 am
Here we go again! Without a playoff we have all this crap of BCS rules and BCS rules favor those who can bring in the most money. It is a business–right?
Dawglasville
November 30th, 2011
10:31 am
Baddabing and LOL – no doubt it is sour grapes on my part. You really don’t get many shots at a national title (I know, Bama gets a lot more than UGA). We deserved a shot in ‘07. I just believe fair is fair. What if Bama beats LSU? Does Bama deserve to be #1? LSU beat them on their home field and they played a much, much tougher schedule.